As Brett Favre has shown, walking away is tough for athletes

David J. Phillip / Associated PressBrett Favre (4) remains a solid bet to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but former Browns running back Jim Brown believes Favre's retirements and unretirements are hurting the quarterback's legacy.

Getty ImagesBrowns legend Jim Brown (32) says he has no regrets about retiring after the 1965 season during the peak of his career.

When Jerry Sherk retired from the Browns in 1981, every night was the same for the Pro Bowl defensive tackle.

"You dream about playing football," he said. "You dream about walking into the locker room. You dream about getting your fingers taped. There were so many times right after I retired -- I rarely have this dream any more -- I'd wake up and in that haze of coming awake, I would ask myself, 'Am I really coming back? Was this a dream or is this real? Am I actually playing for the Browns now?'

"For some guys, those dreams are so strong and pervasive that they listen to them."

Did quarterback Brett Favre have the same dream before deciding to unretire for the second time in two seasons? The day he signed with the Minnesota Vikings, he told reporters he came back only to do his best and help the team win. In the process, he made his youngest daughter happy. She'd never wanted him to retire in the first place.

Whether it was the right decision remains to be seen, although the answer might start to get a little clearer when he and the Vikings open the season against the Browns here on Sunday. But one question continues to loom: Why is it so hard for athletes to step away?

Sports is full of examples of players who stay too long. Who can forget a 42-year-old Willie Mays, playing for the Mets, sprawled in the outfield after losing a ball in the glare during the 1973 World Series against Oakland?

The great Joe Louis, beset by money woes that forced him back into the ring, was 37 years old when Rocky Marciano dropped him through the ropes with a powerful left. Heavyweights Larry Holmes and George Foreman were even older before they quit.

Associated PressWillie Mays struggled to hang on while playing for the New York Mets in the early 1970s.

An HIV-positive Magic Johnson was 36 and retired for four years when he tried to come back, but he played just 32 more games with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1996. Michael Jordan never looked the same in returning with the Washington Wizards at the age of 38 after retiring from the Chicago Bulls three years earlier.

Pitching ace Tom Glavine, 43, failed in an effort to return to the Atlanta Braves this season, while his former Braves teammate, John Smoltz, 42, currently carries a 6.63 ERA with the St. Louis Cardinals after being released by the Boston Red Sox last month.

The 37-year-old Shaquille O'Neal is in the last year of his contract, but he made it clear during his first press conference with the Cavaliers that he thinks he can play another three years.

Favre will turn 40 this October. He has avoided any serious injuries, but has he damaged his reputation with his incessant indecision?

"To be honest, yes," said Browns legendary running back Jim Brown. "If he had left three years ago, it would be very clear to everybody. There'd be no confusion. He's an all-time great. He's a Hall of Famer. He's one of a kind. There would be no doubt. Now, we have to discuss him. . . ."

Jim Brown retiredat peak of career

Brown, of course, is the anti-Favre. He retired at the height of his career and has never regretted it.

"It is something that allows me to occupy a position today because I never declined in my performance," he said. "There's a dignity there. There's a respect there, and an appreciation. So, no, I never regretted it."

Why don't more athletes follow a similar path?

"I think simply because the lifestyle of an athlete is so high profile," Brown said. "It's exciting. The attention is unbelievable . . [But] if an athlete understands history, then they realize the worst thing that can happen is to stay too long and become a subject of pity. . . . Joe Louis stayed too long. Willie Mays stayed too long. Even Muhammad Ali stayed too long. It tarnishes their legacy."

Charles Maher is a sports psychologist who has worked with all three local professional teams. He thinks the mind-set of an athlete precludes thinking beyond an athletic career until it's absolutely necessary.

"As an athlete, they're encouraged to deal with the moment -- the next play, the next pitch, the next game," Maher said. "So their mindset is typically on what's going on now."

Maher said the best time for an athlete to plan for retirement is during the off-season -- not in the wake of a career-ending injury. The National Football League Players Association and National Basketball Players Association, often in conjunction with their respective leagues, have programs in place to help athletes prepare for life after sports -- in business, broadcasting or coaching. Both organizations urge their athletes to finish their degrees and/or enroll in continuing education in other areas, and the NFLPA offers tuition reimbursement. The Major League Baseball Players Association currently has no official program in place, in part because players didn't take advantage of previous attempts at such endeavors.

That doesn't surprise Sherk. After retiring from the Browns, he earned a master's degree in psychology. He did quite a bit of research into athletic transition and even considered going into that field before deciding to work with children instead. He has worked with the Institute of Athletes in Retirement and Transition, based out of San Diego State, a group of academicians, therapists, other service providers and a few retired Olympic and professional athletes that discuss the issues facing retiring athletes. The Center for the Study of Retired Athletes at the University of North Carolina also studies the physical and mental challenges retired athletes face.

More than once, Sherk has thought that the best treatment for some athletes might be for someone to grab them by the shoulders and shake them while telling them their careers are finished. He thinks that might help it sink in.

"When I did my research on athletic transition, I asked the question, 'What do you do when you are done being the hero?' " said Sherk, now a leading expert in the development of youth and adult mentoring programs. "The clear and shocking answer is that 'You die.' You die to the hero-task and hero-identity, as you can no longer do it, physically."

It takes yearsto accept realitySherk, who now lives in the San Diego area, once was the president of the local NFL Retired Players Association in San Diego. He found that, typically, it was six or seven years after retirement before athletes started attending meetings, almost as if it took them that long to admit they were retired and that no team was going to come calling again.

"It's like having a beautiful wife and maybe she left you years ago," Sherk said. "It's really painful at first. Then you live your life and it's almost like, 'What's that girl's name?' It happens to a lot of us."

Aging athletes argue that their passion for the game is as strong as ever and, thanks to modern training methods and medical procedures that have all but eliminated career-ending injuries, their skills have not diminished. There's also the money.

"As far as knowing when to leave, it isn't a matter of you leaving because you're not going to be able to play," Brown said. "It's leaving because you have planned your life so that your quality of life will always be there. If I had a life where everything depended on football, I would never want to leave. But if I was socially conscious, my work to bring about equality and justice would be first place, then sports would be in second place."

Many modern athletes, who have never done anything but play sports, may face a more difficult transition.

"What I found was that the more money and rewards of the game, the more problems for the players [leaving]," Sherk said. "It creates more of a vacuum when the game is over. When I'd ask players from the 1960s about their transitions, they said, 'What transition? I had an insurance business. I was making more out of the game.' "

Stacy Robinson, the NFLPA director of player development, agreed that some of the older players were more prepared for life after football.

"You hear, 'They didn't make all the money. They had to have other jobs,' " Robinson said. "It was a blessing in disguise. What that enabled them to do was utilize their celebrity and status to gain valuable experience in doing something else. . . . For active players, when they're earning all the money and receiving all the accolades, it's just not a teachable moment. That teachable moment oftentimes comes after it's over."

It did for Mays.

In an interview with the Academy of Achievement in 1996, Mays was asked to name the greatest challenge of his life. This is a man who grew up coping with discrimination in segregated Birmingham, Ala., and who started his career in the Negro Leagues.

But in response to that question, Mays said: "The greatest challenge I think is adjusting to not playing baseball. The reason for that is that I had to come out of baseball and come into the business world, not being a college graduate, not being educated to come into the business world the way I should have. And, instead of people doing things for me, I had to do things for myself. That was scary for me."

Follow Us

cleveland.com is powered by Plain Dealer Publishing Co. and Northeast Ohio Media Group. All rights reserved (About Us).The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Northeast Ohio Media Group LLC.